Jordan High unveils Native American mural

The Canyons School District recently set up a joint Artist in Residency grant with The Center for Documentary Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts to bring the Sacred Images History and Presentation Exhibit to Jordan High School to recognize the culture and heritage that the school’s Native American students have.

This four-week project was created by 20 Native American art students. Many of them were also members of the Standing Tall Program. . This program is aimed at nurturing Native American students’ academic success by building relationships, self-esteem and leadership skills, encouraging academics, and to help students prepare for college and careers.

Students started the process by taking a field trip to Buckhorn Wash in Utah’s San Rafael Swell, just south of Price, to view sacred images depicted in ancient rock art. Following the field trip, they spent a week with Native American storyteller, Dovie Thomason.

“We based a lot of our work on the stories Dovie told us and a lot of it on the school,” student and mural creator Natalie Robinson said.

The work took place in and outside of the classroom and students spent many hours researching ways to depict their findings in a mural to display at the school.

“The way that the mural really came together was that the students were asked to create something that is really about a sense of place and what represents us as a whole,” art teacher Cozette Baddley said.

The mural itself was based on and around the Sacred Images Exhibit and Project, which was founded in 2008. “Because the exhibit was so well received, they put it into a book,” Director of Student Advocacy and Access, Karen Sterling said.

Leslie Kelen, director of the Center for Expressions in Documentary Arts and an author of “Sacred Images,” came Nov. 29 to speak to students and watch the unveiling of the mural. He thanked everyone involved for their attendance at the unveiling ceremony and all of those involved who made the creation of the mural possible.

“We wanted to share these images with young people,” Kelen said. “We felt that these images have the ability to remind us that we all come from a shared sun. I think we are fortunate that these images help us expand our knowledge as a human family and that they bring us together to acknowledge our communities, our ancestors, and ourselves.”

Artist in Residence and Muralist, Lee Madrid also spoke of the excitement and enthusiasm of the students who showed a genuine interest to take part in the project and what a good experience this was for the school.

 “The mural is very rich with images and the stories that come out of the mural are deep and touching experiences that students were able to address,” he said. “I think the students would all agree with me that this is something we can all be very proud of. It’s a tribute to the experience of the field trip, and I will have nothing but happy memories when I think about watching the students working on the mural.”

“Jordan High will be a permanent place for this art as a way to honor and recognize our Native American students and the great depth of history and culture that they bring to us,” Sterling said.

Currently, the school 28 Native American students , according to its records. “We really have more than that though,” Natalie said. “Some people who are part Indian might not claim themselves as “Indian” on forms.”

Most of the Native American students at Jordan come from one of the five major tribes in Utah: Ute, Navajo, Paiute, Goshute and Shoshone.